BELIZE CITY, Belize, August 7, 2023. With a score of 3-1, El Salvador claimed victory against Panama, who had been leading the standings until today, in the first match of the third day of competition in the XXII AFECAVOL Central American Men’s Volleyball Cup.
With closely contested sets of 26-24, 23-25, 25-21, and 26-24, El Salvador secured the win in a match led slightly in the attack by the winners, 61-57.
Panama dominated in blocks, 12-10, and both teams were tied at 3 in serves. El Salvador gathered 26 points from their opponent’s errors, while Panama earned 22 points on El Salvador’s errors.
From El Salvador, Rodrigo Chávez once again stood out, contributing 17 points on attacks, two on blocks, and two aces, totaling 21 points.
Uriel Batista continued to lead Panama’s scorers, as he converted 19 attacking points and three blocks, for a total of 22 points.
On Wednesday, August 9th, El Salvador will face Honduras at 5:00 PM, and Panama will play against Nicaragua at 2:30 PM.
INTERVIEWS
Diego Cerón, Libero of El Salvador: “We’re still in the fight for what we came for. The possibility of winning gold is still alive; we don’t lose sight of that mindset. The team has very high expectations. Since we left our country, we knew that this tournament would present a lot of challenges, but we Salvadorans are known by not giving up, and we will keep fighting until the end”.
Oswald Marschall, Outside hitter of Panama: “Unfortunately, we faced a defeat today that shouldn’t have happened. It put us in a tough spot for the medal tally, but we have a team with both youth and experience, which I know will serve us well in tomorrow’s game. Congratulations to El Salvador for putting up a good match”.
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